Nov. 6, 2018, 3:10 p.m.

Kyra Kirkwood, 47, says she voted a straight Democratic ticket for the first time in a while. (Christine Mai-Duc / Los Angeles Times)

Kyra Kirkwood long considered herself a “conservative” Democrat — she didn’t tend to vote along party lines and thought of herself as more conservative when it came to ballot measures. She’s voted for Rep. Ed Royce (R-Fullerton) before, and she remembers voting for George H.W. Bush during her first presidential election.

This year’s different.

“For the first time, I’m actually voting strongly on party lines just because I don’t like what’s happening,” she said, as she browsed the Buena Park farmers market Saturday. “There’s a lot of us-versus-them mentality going on, and I think it’s really dividing the country.”

Nov. 6, 2018, 3:02 p.m.

A line of hundreds snaked its way around the Los Angeles County registrar building in Norwalk as people filled out forms to vote Tuesday.. (Morin, Monte)

A line of hundreds of people snaked around the Los Angeles County Registrar-Recorder/County Clerk’s office in Norwalk Tuesday as people sought an opportunity to vote.

Many of them had registered at the last moment or had recently moved to Los Angeles County and were directed to the office by voting officials.

Staff handed out water bottles, forms and pens, and told would-be voters that their estimated wait time was two hours. Staff estimated that on Monday there were thousands of people who showed up to iron out similar registration issues.

Republican candidate for California governor John Cox delivered pizza to Rep. Mimi Walters at her campaign headquarters in Newport Beach on election day. Walters, the incumbent Republican candidate for the 45th Congressional District, is facing off against Democrat Katie Porter. More election day photos: America goes to the polls

Nov. 6, 2018, 2:25 p.m.

Alex Kim and his younger brother pored over the names and issues linked to Tuesday's election. Then they marked their ballot guides and went to vote as a family.

"This is our tradition. We love following it and we believe it makes us more aware of such a great privilege," said Kim, 46, a Newport Beach resident for nearly 30 years.

Kim, who is a registered Republican in a Korean American family of mostly Republicans, doesn't think President Trump was a factor in how he voted. Take the Senate race between Dianne Feinstein and Kevin de León.

Paul Choi and his wife, Julianne, were holding campaign signs for John Cox and Young Kim as supporters filed out of a GOP field office in Rowland Heights on Saturday.

Choi, a real estate agent from the area, said Cox’s agenda makes much more sense to him than his Democratic rival for governor, Gavin Newsom.

“What’s most important for California at this time is the economy,” Choi said. He is also supporting Kim in her bid for the House seat of retiring Rep. Ed Royce (R-Fullerton), and not just because she’s a fellow Korean immigrant, he added.

Nov. 6, 2018, 1:57 p.m.

Luke Hallberg casts his ballot as voters stand in line at the Luxe Sunset Boulevard Hotel polling station in Brentwood. (Al Seib / Los Angeles Times)

As California voters headed to the polls Tuesday, some voiced concerns via Twitter about whether their ballots would be counted because of malfunctioning machines at their polling places.

But the devices often referred to as “voting machines” aren’t actually there to count your vote.

Rather, those machines, known as precinct ballot readers, are designed to tell a poll worker if a ballot is blank or has too many of its selection bubbles filled in. When it finds one of these issues, you as the voter will have the opportunity to correct your ballot if you want.

In recent weeks, Dodge City, Kan., became a cause celebre among left-leaning activists after county officials controversially moved the city’s longtime polling station to a new location outside the city limits — more than a mile past the last bus stop.

Nationally, fears quickly spread that election officials were trying to suppress the city’s predominantly Latino population, many of whom work at meatpacking plants. Celebrities including Melissa Etheridge and Debra Messing sprang into action to help organize Lyft rides and buses for any voters who needed transportation. Organizers from across Kansas — and as far away as San Diego — rushed in to help volunteer on the front lines.

But on election day Tuesday, those transportation fears fizzled dramatically as volunteer buses and carpools stayed idle in Dodge City, and activists and residents agreed that the controversy had become overblown.

Nov. 6, 2018, 1:30 p.m.

Terry Avalos, 69, and her husband, Ricardo Avalos, 71, were among those who voted Tuesday in South Gate. (Ruben Vives / Los Angeles Times)

It took only two minutes — maybe less — for 28-year-old Christian Martinez to drop off his vote-by-mail ballot at American Legion Post 335 in South Gate.

“I dropped it off because I wanted to make sure they got it,” he said.

Wearing a green jacket and black pants, Martinez said he voted mostly for Democratic Party candidates, because they fell in line with his beliefs. He said President Trump and his Republican Party also played a factor in how he voted today.